Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan has revealed his brief stint in Black Sabbath was so unexpected, that even he didn’t know he’d signed on as their singer.
If you were to try and explain the timeline of Black Sabbath’s membership in simple terms, it would end up in a bit of a mess.
Formed by guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward, and singer Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath’s lineup was never very stable, with only Iommi remaining a constant member of the group.
Following Osbourne’s departure from the group in 1979, Black Sabbath embarked upon a series of vocalists, the likes of which included Ronnie James Dio, Glenn Hughes, and Tony Martin, all of which were met with varying levels of popularity.
Between 1982 and 1984 though, Black Sabbath was fronted by none other than Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan. With some of rock’s biggest hits to his name, Gillan sounded like an obvious choice. However, after the poor response to 1983’s Born Again, Gillan took his leave from the band.
However, in a new interview with SiriusXM (via Blabbermouth), the 73-year-old explained that his role in the band came about after a night of drinking, and came as a little bit of a surprise.
“How it started is was just ’cause we got drunk together one night,” Gillan explained. “I went for a drink with Tony and Geezer, and we ended up under the table. And I can’t remember much more that happened.”
“But I got a call from my manager the next day saying, ‘Don’t you think you should call me if you’re gonna make decisions like this?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He said, ‘Well, apparently you… I just got a call. You agreed to join Sabbath.'”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqeBQvHbwA4
“So that’s how it happened,” he added. “I was at a kind of loose end anyway, having just finished with my own band and Purple not really being anything viable at the time. So we set a one-year plan, and it was to do an album and a tour.”
“Nobody knew what was gonna happen, so we pitched up and I pitched my tent, literally, at the old manor in Oxfordshire. And we made an album.”
“I didn’t see much of ’em. They were night people, so they slept all day and worked all night. I got up in the morning, cooked my breakfast, went to the studio to hear what they had recorded the night before and write a song over it. And that’s how the album was made.”
While Ian Gillan’s time with Black Sabbath wasn’t exactly the most popular moment in his career, it wasn’t all bad, with the singer reforming Deep Purple in 1984 as a result. Who knows, maybe Born Again was a small price to pay for getting Deep Purple back?
Check out Black Sabbath’s ‘Trashed’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBi7XvJKlMo
